Coating apparatus



Juflly 22, mm. R. K. NASH COATING APPARATUS EJZWLEW Filed June 4, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet l ju'fiy 22, H%& RLK. NASH COATING APPARATUS Filed June 4, 1929 2 Sheets-Sneak 2 W V W Patented July 22, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RTII'SSIELII'J K. NASH, OF BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO BOSTON BLACKING COMPANY, INC., OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION'OEMASSACHUSETTS COATING APPARATUS Application filed June 4, 1929. Serial No. 36833 0.

This invention relates to coating apparatus and is herein illustrated as embodied in a device designed for applying a coating such as 15 thickness. and has knots and thickened threads which make it difficult to handle.

The viscosity of the coating material in question, which is supplied to users in commercial containers, is so high that it can be poured only very slowly and with difliculty.

This makes it hard to utilize the material to good advantage without waste. This is especially true if it is necessary to transfer the material from the commercial container in which it is supplied to the receptacle of a coating machine. Furthermore, this material is very sticky and hard to clean out of the container or from a machine. 7

Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide an improved device for applying coating material to a strip which will be well adapteeLfor satisfactorily coating by one application of cement such insole materials as those referred to and which device will be simple, easy to use with viscous cement, andinexpensive to operate.

The illustrated device, in accordance with this object ofthe invention is arranged. to apply coating material directly from a commercial container to a strip by gravity as the strip is drawn along beneath the container, and is provided with improved means for controlling the quantity of material applied to the strip.

If such a deviceis to be used eificiently it is necessary that it be arranged so that a can of coating material can be connected to .the device and placed in inverted position without loss of the material, that the device be arranged to coat one surface of the strip without soiling the other surface, and that the pressure of the body of coating material upon the strip be so controlled that it will not be too hard to pull the strip through the device. To these ends, and in accordance with features of the invention, the illustrated device is provided with a nozzle which may be detachably secured to; the outlet end of the commercial contamer, this nozzle being constructed to provide a guideway for the strip of material and having a removable plate between which, and the nozzle,'a strip is guided. It is possible, therefore, to take the can of material 1n upright position and to apply to it the nozzle of the device, after which the canvas strip may be laid over the outlet of the nozzle and a detachable plate applied to the nozzle to complete the guideway for the strip. This whole assembled structuremay then be inverted and secured to a supporting base. in order to accomplish the results desired, the

illustrated nozzle is constructed with flanges which overlie the margins of the material so that the coating is applied to all of one face of the strip except narrow margins thereof. The nozzle is also constructed with an outlet reduced as compared to the outlet of the container so that the total pressure of the material upon the strip is reduced to that which is necessary to obtain a suflicient contact between the coating material and the strip to insure complete adhesion to the strip. This enables the operator to pull the strip through the device with the practicable minimum of resistance.

Still another important feature of the invention resides in improved means for controlling the quantity of coating material ap plied to the strip as it is drawn through the guideway. The problem of controlling the quantity of coating material applied is rendered difficult not only by the viscosity of coating material such as that referred to but also further by the fact that the canvas which it is desired to coat 'is not of a uniform thickness. The difference between the average thickness of the canvas and the thickness of the bunches or knots above referred to may amount to from twenty-five to thirty per cent.

Further it has been found that with many arrangements for controlling the quantity of coating material applied, the thickness of said coating varies notably in accordance with the speed at which the canvas is pulled through the machine. My improved control mechanism, therefore, as embodied in the illustrated device, comprisesa vertical stripper, the lower edge of which overlies the surface of the strip to be coated, said stripper forming part of the side wall of the nozzle of the device and preventing the coat ing material from flowing out except as it passes with the strip. Because of the imperfections and irregularities in the canvas, it is not possible to set this stripper plate as close to the canvas as would be desired if the stripper were to be depended upon wholly to control the thickness of the coating. I have found, however, that the problem may be solved by the provision of a deflector plate just outside or beyond the exit of the device arranged to bend the canvas strip rather sharply around the stripper. It is found that the setting of the stripper itself is rather critical and somewhat difficult to adjust. On the other hand, the setting of the deflector plate is not critical and it may be very easily adjusted. The preferred practice is to set the stripper plate sufficiently far away from the convas so that the canvas will pass freely thereunder in spite of any of its imperfections and to control the quantity of material by adjustment of the deflector plate. This arrangement, which constitutes an important feature of my invention, is to a large extent self-compensating for differences in the speeds at which the strip is pulled through the device for reasons which will be set forth in the detailed description.

These and other features of the invention are described in the following specification and are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the device with parts broken away and in section;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the device before the container can has been applied;

Fig. 3 is an upright, longitudinal section through the device on the line III-III of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a similar section of a fragment on a greatly enlarged scale, showing the controlling devices at the exit of the machine.

The adhesive, or dough, as it is commonly termed, has a very high viscosity, being the consistency of thick molasses, and is supplied to shoe manufacturers in commercial containers one usual size of which holds substantially two gallons of material, which containers are in the form of tin cans 1O having reduced necks 12. The neck of such a container is constructed in a well understood. manner and is provided with a flange 14 having a series of passages 16 for cooperation with lugs upon a closure cap. When a can of dough is to be used in the device herein illustrated the ordinary closure cap is removed while the can is in upright position and a nozzle 18 forming a part of the device and provided with a series of inwardly directed studs 20 is applied to the neck of the container and tightly clamped thereto so that a shoulder 22 in the nozzle rests upon the edge of the flange 14. This nozzle, which is open at the top and bottom, serves as a receptacle for dough which is about to be ap plied. It also serves to provide a passageway for the dough as it flows by gravity after the can and nozzle have been inverted, di rectly into contact with one surface of a canvas strip 24 which may be, for example, three or four inches wide and is supplied in rolls 26. After the nozzle has been applied to the can, the canvas strip 24 is laid over the bottom opening 36 of the nozzle. A. rem0vable bottom plate 28 is then secured to the nozzle by thumb nuts 30 cooperating with screws 32 in the nozzle. This plate 28 in cooperation with the nozzle forms a guideway for the strip of canvas and the plate 28, together with the canvas, closes the bottom of the nozzle 18 so that the can 10, the nozzle and the plate 28 may be inverted and secured to a supporting base 34 in a manner to be later described. \Vhen so positioned, the canvas and the parts forming the guideway form a closure for the can and the viscous cement cannot flow out upon the base 84.

It has been found that if the whole weight of the dough is allowed to rest upon any substantialarea of the canvas strip, the friction will be so considerable as seriously to resist the passage of the strip through the device. It is desired so to construct the apparatus that the operator can pull the strip through the device with a minimum of effort. Accordingly, the outlet opening 36 is reduced to the minimum consistent with the satisfactory application of the dough to the canvas. This reduction of the opening is effected by inclining the rear wall 38 of the nozzle as shown in Fig. 3.

It is desirable to keep the coating material from the under side of the strip and it will be observed that this result is secured largely by reason of the construction of the nozzle in which ledges 40 (Fig. 1), one on either side of the device, are constructed and arranged to overlie the margins of the canvas strip 24 and to fit fairly closely thereagainst so that it is practically impossible for the dough to pass around the lateral edges of the strip and get onto the bottom surface thereof. The exit opening 42 of the nozzle is partially closed by a stripper 44, often spoken of as a doctor, adjustably mounted on the outside of the nozzle by means of screws 46 passing through slots 48 in said stripper. This stripper is in the ,form of a plate having a flat deflector plate 50 slotted so that it may be.

adjustably positioned upon the bottom plate 28 by means of screws 52. This deflector plate has rounded front and back edges and serves to deflect the canvas strip in a manner to be more fully described later.

It will be noted that the nozzle 18, viewed in plan in Fig. 2, provides guides 54 and 56 for the edges of the canvas strip, helping to form a guideway between the nozzle 18 and the removable bottom plate 28. This removdifficult to control the able bottom plate is provided with openings '58 and slots 60 forming key-hole shaped openings at points beyond the outlet opening 36 to facilitate the assembly of the base plate upon the nozzle without the complete removal of the thumb nuts 30. i

For convenience in assembling the device, the removable plate 28 has projecting separat ed lugs 62 on each side at front and back which are adapted to underlie the overhanging portions 64 of strips 66 which are screwed to the supporting base 34. It will be noted from Fig. 2 that the overhanging portions 64 of the strips 66 are cut away at 68 so that it is not necessary to slide the removable plate 28 rearwardly its full length before it can be lifted from the supporting base 34. Only suflicient movement is required to bring the separated lugs 62 on the base plate 28 to a position where one set of lugs is-outside the strips 66 and the other set of lugs lies in thespaces 68 formed intermediate the length of the strips. Slots 70 are provided in the base 34 to'receive the thumb screws 30 and to limit the forward movement of the plate 28 with respect to said base. This prevents the pull of the canvas from sliding the apparatus out of engagement with the retaining strips 66. Brackets 72 are mounted on the base -34 to support a roller 74 for the roll 26- of the canvas strip and said brackets are also provided with a guide roll 76 operable as the. roll becomes reduced in size to guide the strip easily into the guideway of the device.

As previously explained, the viscosity or thickness of the dough and the irregular nature of the canvas strip 24 make it somewhat quantity of dough applied to the canvas and especially to provide such control that it will not be possible for the operator to vary the thickness of the coating 80 by pulling the strip faster or slower. A very practical and effective arrangement is that already described, and which is shown in Fig. 4, in which the stripper 44 is ordinarily set so that its rounded lower edge is about forty thousandths of an inch from the upper surface of the removable plate 28, and consequently the exit opening 42 is that of height, when the canvas strip is of such a grade that its average thickness is approximately twenty-seven thousandths of an inch in thickness. The rounding of the lower edge of the stripper 44 is particularly helpful in maintaining uniformity and ease of operation of the device. It minimizes friction and obviates the necessity of adjustment of the stripper to such an extent that whatever adjustment is necessary can be obtained by adjusting the deflector 50. If the bevel of the stripper 44 were continued to a sharp edge, that edge would scrape bits of canvas from any knots or over-sized threads in the. fabric,

notonly making it more difiicult to pull the fabric but contaminating the dough in the receptacle. While it is true that such sharpness would be reduced in the course of time by wear, it is also true that this reduction of the sharpness of the edge would change the position of the edge to such a substantial extent as would require repeated adjustment of the stripper 44 itself. With the rounded edge shown, however, whatever wear there may be is so slightthat it can be disregarded for a long period of time. On the other hand, if the radius of curvature of the edge of the stripper 44 were increased unduly the dough, by reason of its high viscosity, would wedge between the stripper and the fabric, forcing the fabric down against the plate 28 and making it unduly diflicult to pull the strip of fabric through the device. This wedging of the dough would also result in forcing the dough through the fabric in a manner which is not desirable in preparing canvas for reinforcing insoles. If the lower edge of the stripper were a plane surface of any substantial width that also would unduly increase the friction thereby making it diflic'ult to pull the fabric through, particularly when knots or oversized threads were encountered.

Because of the viscosity'of the material being handled this stripper together with the removable plate 28, and the strip of canvas constitute a closure for the device which prevents leakage of cement. At the same time, adjustment of the stripper 44 can be utilized. to control the quantity of cement taken out of the container. On the other hand, as it has been previously mentioned, adjustmentfof this stripper is critical and not easy to efl'ect so that there has been provided the horizontally adjustable deflector "plate 50 by means of which the strip may be bent around the edge of the stripper 44 to control the thickness of the coating applied easily and in a way which makes the setting of the deflector plate 50 non-critical. Furthermore, the arrangement is such that it is self-compensating in case the operator does not pull the strip through the device with uiliform speed. When coating canvas with a material of high viscosity, such as the dough herein referred to,-it is found that, in the absence of a deflector, an increase in the velocity with which the canvas is pulled through the device tends to increase the thickness of the coating. The dough sticks tightly to the canvas and as it can flow only slowly it crowds between the edge of the stripper and the canvas thus tending to push the canvas away from the stripper. In the use of the present device, however, this tendency to apply a thicker coat, as the velocity with which the strip of canvas is pulled through the device increases, is compensated for by the fact that the increased velocity with which the strip is pulled through is accompanied by an increased tension on the strip which, as the,

strip is bent at an angle about the edge of the stripper 44, tends to straighten the strip thereby pressing the strip more forcibly against the stripper. These two effects oppose each other and while probably not exactly equal are sufliciently nearly so to give a coating of substantial uniformity over the entire range of speeds within which the canvas is pulled through the device under shoe factory conditions.

It will be understood from the foregoing that the deflector 50 is of great assistance in maintaining efficient operation of the device. By reason of the presence of the deflector the stripper 44 can be positioned with its lower edge spaced from the upper surface of the plate 26 by a distance substantially greater than the combined normal thickness of the fabric and the thickness of the coating of dough applied thereto. This condition is illustrated in Fig. 4. When a knot or other abnormally thick portion of the fabric 24 passes beneath the stripper 44 the fabric is depressed, without any increase in the resistance to its progress through the device, until the lower surface of the fabric encounters the upper surface of the plate 28. After this condition is reached a further increase in thickness of the fabric will, of course, increase the resistance but such increase of resistance will occur relatively rarely and will not be great enough to prevent the strip of fabric from being pulled through the device without difficulty. The presence of the deflector 50, moreover, obviates practically all adjustment of the stripper 44. I have found that a horizontal adjustment of the deflector 50 of about one thirty-second to one sixteenth of an inch corresponds approximately to a vertical adjustment of the stripper 44 of only .001 of an. inch. To secure an adjustment of .001 of an inch of the stripper 44 would necessitate great care or a relatively elaborate mechanism while a simple screw and slot connection between the deflector 50 and theplate 26 is all that is necessary to permit ready adjustment of the deflector .50 through the much'greater distance corresponding functionally to an ing a scrap of the coated canvas to the outside of the can. It will be seen on consideration that the construction of the device makes it very easy to clean and that there is practically no loss of coating material such as would be encountered in case it were necessary to transfer the material from the commercial container to the receptacle of the coating device. When the operator has finished using the device, the container, the nozzle and the plate 28 may be detached from the supporting base 34 and the container set upright. Thumb screws 30 may then be loosened to allow the removal of the plate 28 and of the strip of canvas, after which the nozzle itself may be detached from the neck 12 of the can 10 and easily cleaned. Not only is the nozzle a small. part and therefore easily handled but its interior surface is readily accessible for cleaning purposes through both the upper opening and the outlet opening 36.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a coating device, a base having a supporting surface across which a strip of fabric may be drawn, a receptacle mounted on said base having a guideway for the strip of material and arranged to deposit a coating of the material directly upon the upper surface of the strip by gravity, a stripper at the exit of the guideway, the surface of the supporting member across which the strip is drawn being below and extending on opposite sides of said stripper, said stripper having a thin lower edge rounded on a short radius of curvature spaced from said base a distance greater than the combined thickness of the material and of the coating to be applied, and adjustable means for deflecting said strip to bend it about the rounded lower edge of the stripper, said deflecting means being spaced from the stripper in the direction in which .the strip is drawn.

2. A device for use in coating fabric with material having avery high viscosity comprising a member having a supporting surface across which a strip of fabric may be drawn, a receptacle having an outlet adjacent to and over the supporting surface and constructed and arranged to deposit said coating material 011 the surface of a strip of fabric drawn across the supporting surface and between the receptacle and the supporting surface, a stripper carried by the receptacle and spaced from the supporting surface a distance substantially greater than the thickness of the fabric to be coated, and a deflector adjacent to the supporting surface and to the stripper arranged to engage the non-coated surface of the strip of material after it passes the stripper thereby bending the strip about the stripper.

3. In a coating device, a base having a supporting surface across which a strip of mate rial may be drawn, a receptacle above said base having an outlet across which said supporting surface extends, said receptacle being arranged to deposit relatively thick coating material directly upon the surface of the strip drawn over the supporting surface of the base and beneath the receptacle, a stripper directly above the supporting surface and cooperating with the coated surface of the strip where it emerges from the receptacle, and a rigid deflector bar carried by the base and tending to cause the strip to approach the stripper when tension is applied to the strip to draw it through the device and thereby controlling the thickness of the coating applied to the strip. a

4. A device for use in coating fabric wit material having a very high viscosity comprising a support having a surface supporting a strip of fabric and across which the fabric may be drawn, a receptacle having an outlet adjacent to and over the supporting surface and constructed and arranged to apply coating material to the surface of the strip of fabric, a stripper carried by the receptacle and spaced from the supporting surface a distance substantially greater than the thickness of the fabric to be coated, and a deflector adjacent to the supporting surface and to the stripper and adjustable toward and from the stripper to vary the thickness of the coating of material applied to the strip of fabric as it is drawn between the receptacle and the supporting surface and between the stripper and the deflector.

5. In a coating device, a base, 'a plate de tachably secured to said base, a receptacle above said plate forming with \the plate a guideway for a strip of material so that coat ing material contained within the receptacle will be deposited by gravity directly upon said strip, and means for detachably securing said plate to said receptacle so as to allow a strip of material to be threaded through said guideway by removing the receptacle and the plate from the base, inverting the receptacle and then removing the plate from the receptacle.

6. In a coating device, a supporting base, means on sai base for supporting a reel of stripmaterial, a plate removably secured to said base, a nozzle detachably secured to said plate providing a guideway for a strip of material between the nozzle and the plate, said nozzle having an open upper end adapted detachably to receive the neck of a commercial container for coating material, means within said nozzle forreducing the area of the coating material which rests, upon the strip to an area substantially less than that of the nozzle, and controlling means adjacent to the outlet of said guideway to regulate the quantity of material applied to the strip as it is pulled through the guideway.

'1 A device for-use in coating fabric with material having a very high viscositycomprising a base having a supporting surface across which a strip of fabric may be drawn, an inverted nozzle having an outlet adjacent to the supporting surface and constructed and arranged to apply coating material to the upper surface of a strip of fabric drawn between the nozzle and said supporting surface, an adjustable stripper carried by the nozzle and having an edge spaced from the supporting surface a distance substantially greater than the thickness of the fabric to be coated, and a deflector bar beyond the stripper, adjacent to the supporting surface of the base and to the stripper and adjustable toward and from the stripper to vary the thickness of the coating material applied to a strip of fabric drawn between the nozzle and the supporting surface and between the stripper and the deflector bar.

8. A device for use in coating fabric With material having a very high viscosity comprising a base having a supporting surface across which a strip of fabric may be drawn,

an inverted nozzle adjacent to the supporting surface and having a relatively wide opening at the bottom through which coating material is applied to the upper surface vof a strip of fabric drawn between the noz- RUSSELL K. NASH.

I {DISCLAIMER 1,771,388.Russell K. Nash, Brookline, Mass. COATING APPARATUS. Patent dated July 22, 1930. Disclaimer filed March 9, 1931, by the assignee, Boston Blaclcing Company, Inc. I

Hereby enters this disclaimer to said claim 2 of said Letters Patent, 4 which is in the following words, to Wit:

2. A device for'use in coating fabric with material having a very high viscosity comprising a member having a supporting surface across which a strip of fabric maybe drawm-"a receptacle having an outlet adjacent to and over the supporting surface and constructed and arranged to deposit said coating material on the surface of a strip of fabric drawn across the supporting surface and between the receptacle and the supporting surface, a stripper carried by the receptacle and spaced from the supporting surface a distance substantially greater than the thickness of the fabric to be coated, and a deflector adjacent to the supporting surface and to the stripper arranged to engage the noncoated surface of the strip of material after it passes the stripper thereby bending the strip about the stripper.

[Ofiicz'al Gazette M arch 24, 1931.] 

